The present invention is directed to a device for washing inking elements of a rotary printing machine, specifically for washing the ink-transferring canvas cylinder, the ink fountain and doctor blade chambers and various conduits of the inking elements.
It is necessary to wash the printing elements of the printing arrangement for a rotary printing machine when changing colors of the inks. Otherwise, residues of a previously-used ink would contaminate the new color.
At present, the washing of the printing elements of a rotary printing machine is achieved by having water circulate in the conduits of the inking circuit and in the doctor blade chamber by means of the ink pump or of nozzles inside the doctor blade chamber, which is well-known to a man skilled in the art. This washing operation will wash all inking elements as well as the ink-transferring canvas cylinder. However, various of these inking elements, particularly the doctor blade chamber, receive ink splashings on their outer parts which will not be removed with this washing method. It will then be necessary to wash them independently from the washing with the water circulating in the conduits of the inking circuit. This washing operation can only be achieved manually and takes a considerable amount of time, due to the complexity of the outer shapes of the inking elements. This state of art comes from usual practice applied by the constructors of the rotary printing machine and appearing on its own catalogs and prospectuses of these constructors.